Funding Awards

In cooperation with the university’s funding awards, we offer three awards for outstanding bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral theses in Cognitive Science that fulfil at least one or more of the following criteria. All awards are endowed with 500€ each.

Selection Criteria
  • Exceptional interdisciplinarity: outstanding work that encompasses various disciplines of Cognitive Science to a particular degree and thus makes an exceptional contribution to the interdisciplinarity of the research field. 
  • Exceptional transdisciplinarity: outstanding work that opens up new perspectives and innovative areas to a particular degree, e.g. by incorporating previously unusual methods, topic areas or educational backgrounds. 
  • Exceptional practical relevance and science communication: outstanding work that deals in particular with practical applications of cognitive science and thus promotes the theory-practice dialogue or science communication.
  • Exceptional commitment: outstanding work by students who are/were particularly committed to the Cognitive Science student community or whose work thematically addresses student concerns in Cognitive Science.
  • Personal background and exceptional burdens: outstanding work by students who belong to underrepresented groups in Cognitive Science (e.g. First Gen, PoC, gender identity (i.e. non-binary and trans people) and/or have completed their work under exceptional circumstances/burdens (e.g. childcare, disability, illness, caring for relatives, economic status, or financing studies).

We encourage all students who have written an outstanding thesis and who fulfil at least another one of the listed selection criteria to apply. The proposal statement for the proposed thesis should refer to all criteria met. 

Please note: while it is possible that you will be approached by your supervisor for such an award, this is often not the case and it is much more common for you to initiate the application process yourself. Especially, if you are considering an academic career, having an award on your CV can be helpful for future applications for grants and positions. So, if you think you and/or your work match at least some of the award criteria, we strongly advise you to take matters into your own hand and ask your supervisor directly, if they would recommend you for this award. 

Application Deadlines

Details on the application for 2025/26 are expected to be available on the university’s website in November.
Deadline: January 9th, 2026

Application Documents
  • Fill out the application form.
  • Reach out to a researcher/teacher, to officially propose you for this award – usually this would be one of your supervisors. This person needs to write a proposal statement, detailing how they know you, how you meet the selection criteria, and why you should win this award.
  • Necessary documents for our awards:
    • Application form
    • Proposal statement
    • Your thesis as PDF
    • The reports (“Gutachten”) of your supervisors.
    • A current picture of you (will be printed in the awards booklet, if you win the prize)
  • Hand in all documents to the respective email contact listed on the university’s website.

An overview of all sponsors, the application form, and further information can be found on the university’s website.

Past Funding Awards

Funding Awards 2024/25

Celebrating Excellence in Cognitive Science

We are happy to congratulate Luu Zörlein, Lisa Golla, and Wookyung Lee on winning this year’s CogSci Network e.V. funding awards!

In collaboration with the university’s funding awards program, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, we proudly introduced three funding awards for outstanding Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral theses in Cognitive Science for the first time. Each award is endowed with €500.

Among many exceptional applications, our three winners stood out not only due to their scientifically excellent theses but also because of their strong commitment to social engagement.

This Recipients and Their Theses:
  • Lisa Golla (Bachelor’s Thesis): Timing Distributions of Sequence Elements for Dendritic Sequence Processing (Nominated by Prof. Dr. Pascal Nieters)
  • Wookyung Lee (Bachelor’s Thesis): Kernel Selection for Support Vector Machines: Mathematical Foundations and Empirical Insights (Nominated by Prof. Dr. Tim Römer)
  • Luu Zörlein (Master’s Thesis): Changing Relationships: On the Transformative Potential of Modern Intimacy (Nominated by Prof. Dr. Sven Walter)

More information on their theses and our winners can be found in the award brochure (PDF).
On the universitiy’s website you can also find some impressions from the award ceremony.

We extend our sincere gratitude to all applicants and supervisors who took the time to recommend their students. It was truly inspiring to read about the brilliant minds and passionate Cognitive Science enthusiasts at our institute.

A special thank you to our selection committee for their dedicated work in making difficult decisions, as well as to the IKW members who ensured an anonymized review process.

Congratulations to all recipients of this year’s university funding awards—but especially to our three outstanding winners: Luu, Lisa, and Wookyung!

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